(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An LCD includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed therebetween. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer, which determines orientations of LC molecules in the LC layer to adjust polarization of incident light.
Among the LCDs, a vertically aligned mode LCD (referred to as a “VALCD” hereinafter), which aligns the major axes of the LC molecules vertical to upper and lower panels in absence of electric field, is promising because of its high contrast ratio and wide viewing angle. To implement wide viewing angle in the VALCD, a cutout pattern or protuberances are provided on the electrode. Both distribute tilt directions of the LC molecules into several directions, thereby giving wide viewing angle.
A region of the LC layer where the LC molecules have substantially the same orientations is called a domain, and the orientations of the LC molecules are disordered near corners of the domains to generate light leakage or texture.
The LCD also includes a plurality of thin film transistors for applying voltages to the pixel electrodes and each transistor includes a source electrode, a drain electrode, and a gate electrode. The drain electrodes that are normally made of opaque material are connected to the pixel electrodes and overlap the pixel electrode to reduce the aperture ratio of the LCD.